TenfoldShields
Lounging on a Hoard of Words
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"wait what tenfold?" you say "that shitty sci-fi/sy-fy/$!-&% show about creepypasta i saw a trailer for two months back and never thought of again?"
"yes" i expostulate "the very same"
"and you watched it?" you inquire, magnificent brows raising, eyebrow game on point
i only nod solemnly. silence sets in, pregnant with purpose and metaphor
"well what about it!?" you ejaculate furiously
i look at you with a dazed expression. my eyes red-rimmed and puffy, i have been crying. sobbing a the senselessness of it all. i beckon you close and whisper two words in your ear. horrified. haunted.
"it's good"
Tbh I don't know why I'm so surprised. With The Expanse Season 1 being moderately well received I think at some point we had to accept that someone at Syfy HQ was capable of telling a decent story. I just don't think we expected it to be like this.
Man what the fuck is 2016?
For a non-spoiler overview: Channel Zero is an anthology series airing on Sy-hrk-fy that draws inspiration from creepypasta. The Golden Corral buffet of internet horror stories. Each season is pretty snappy, only six episodes apiece. Two is scheduled to air in 2017 and is centered around No End House (trailer here). Season One was based around Candle Cove and just finished up last week I think? Whatever. Point is I think we all expected it to be shit if we thought about it at all. Just went "huh, that seems dumb" and wrote it off.
And to be sure there's a lot that's not-great about it. Some of the actors are just...just terrible and there's more than a few kid-actors who are bad even for kid-actors. There's a pervasive sense that it has a pinup poster of True Detective on its bedroom wall (a lot of the cinematography and shots seem like they're aiming for that, quiet ominous shots of sorta washed out or weirdly saturated scenes, long tracking shots, that kind of stuff) and that it definitely sits behind Stephen King in class (the story takes a lot of cues from his stuff) but it also like...
First off there is a story. A story with a beginning, middle, and end that makes sense. There are arcs and subarcs. They mostly get resolved and in ways that are consistent with their content. Secondly it is indisputably a horror story. And no I don't mean a jumpscare schlockfest I mean like it sets up a predatory antagonist, it works to isolate characters, it creates some really fucking creepy atmospheres, and it has rules. This is actually really important because the big baddie isn't like omnipotent and omniscient and everyone's fucked from the get-go. There are certain ways that the antagonist behaves. There are certain things it can do. Certain ways its constrained. There are problems that the characters work to solve. The characters often have a hand in the creation of the problems themselves. Characters trust each other and do their best to work together. The plot doesn't really run on people being arbitrarily stupid.
Beyond that the story has an understanding of its own themes, that it's about childhood and growing up and bullying and all the dark shit that kids lock away and forget about as they age, and it doesn't club you over the head with them. Or, like, if it does the club's at least padded. The show trusts you to figure some stuff out and doesn't collapse into the whole like "THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO LADY MCEVILPANTS CURSED THIS PLACE SO THAT'S WHY EVERYTHING'S FUCKED" explanation.
So uh...yeah. I know my taste isn't everyone's and I can have some terrible and/or dumb opinions but I feel pretty confident in giving this a thumbs up and a recommendation. You should check it out if you can.
You can even...
Pirate it.
"yes" i expostulate "the very same"
"and you watched it?" you inquire, magnificent brows raising, eyebrow game on point
i only nod solemnly. silence sets in, pregnant with purpose and metaphor
"well what about it!?" you ejaculate furiously
i look at you with a dazed expression. my eyes red-rimmed and puffy, i have been crying. sobbing a the senselessness of it all. i beckon you close and whisper two words in your ear. horrified. haunted.
"it's good"
Tbh I don't know why I'm so surprised. With The Expanse Season 1 being moderately well received I think at some point we had to accept that someone at Syfy HQ was capable of telling a decent story. I just don't think we expected it to be like this.
Man what the fuck is 2016?
For a non-spoiler overview: Channel Zero is an anthology series airing on Sy-hrk-fy that draws inspiration from creepypasta. The Golden Corral buffet of internet horror stories. Each season is pretty snappy, only six episodes apiece. Two is scheduled to air in 2017 and is centered around No End House (trailer here). Season One was based around Candle Cove and just finished up last week I think? Whatever. Point is I think we all expected it to be shit if we thought about it at all. Just went "huh, that seems dumb" and wrote it off.
And to be sure there's a lot that's not-great about it. Some of the actors are just...just terrible and there's more than a few kid-actors who are bad even for kid-actors. There's a pervasive sense that it has a pinup poster of True Detective on its bedroom wall (a lot of the cinematography and shots seem like they're aiming for that, quiet ominous shots of sorta washed out or weirdly saturated scenes, long tracking shots, that kind of stuff) and that it definitely sits behind Stephen King in class (the story takes a lot of cues from his stuff) but it also like...
First off there is a story. A story with a beginning, middle, and end that makes sense. There are arcs and subarcs. They mostly get resolved and in ways that are consistent with their content. Secondly it is indisputably a horror story. And no I don't mean a jumpscare schlockfest I mean like it sets up a predatory antagonist, it works to isolate characters, it creates some really fucking creepy atmospheres, and it has rules. This is actually really important because the big baddie isn't like omnipotent and omniscient and everyone's fucked from the get-go. There are certain ways that the antagonist behaves. There are certain things it can do. Certain ways its constrained. There are problems that the characters work to solve. The characters often have a hand in the creation of the problems themselves. Characters trust each other and do their best to work together. The plot doesn't really run on people being arbitrarily stupid.
Beyond that the story has an understanding of its own themes, that it's about childhood and growing up and bullying and all the dark shit that kids lock away and forget about as they age, and it doesn't club you over the head with them. Or, like, if it does the club's at least padded. The show trusts you to figure some stuff out and doesn't collapse into the whole like "THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO LADY MCEVILPANTS CURSED THIS PLACE SO THAT'S WHY EVERYTHING'S FUCKED" explanation.
So uh...yeah. I know my taste isn't everyone's and I can have some terrible and/or dumb opinions but I feel pretty confident in giving this a thumbs up and a recommendation. You should check it out if you can.
You can even...
Pirate it.
In no particular order:
Skintaker is deeply fucking unsettling. Like it doesn't ever say it but I'm pretty fucking sure underneath the goop and the clay and the, uh, skin he looks like grown up Mike Painter.
The classroom in the Dark World. Holy fuck. It's scary because the skinless kids don't do anything. They just sit there and look at Mike until he pretty understandably backs the fuck out. There's no orchestral jizzing just...quiet low key as they look at him. And the camera lingers just long enough to give you an impression of what happened to them and for your eye to pick out details.
Francis Booth's actress turns in a really great performance as this old lady zealot driven to murder by her own hollowness and stuff. And her beat down at the end by Mama Painter is some sick-ass shit.
While it can get kinda up its own ass with the IMAGERY at points it really nailed nightmare logic I think and the blending together of dreams and reality. Especially the bit at Skinners (ow my nose) where Mike is being dragged up by the giant marionette strings.
Skintaker is deeply fucking unsettling. Like it doesn't ever say it but I'm pretty fucking sure underneath the goop and the clay and the, uh, skin he looks like grown up Mike Painter.
The classroom in the Dark World. Holy fuck. It's scary because the skinless kids don't do anything. They just sit there and look at Mike until he pretty understandably backs the fuck out. There's no orchestral jizzing just...quiet low key as they look at him. And the camera lingers just long enough to give you an impression of what happened to them and for your eye to pick out details.
Francis Booth's actress turns in a really great performance as this old lady zealot driven to murder by her own hollowness and stuff. And her beat down at the end by Mama Painter is some sick-ass shit.
While it can get kinda up its own ass with the IMAGERY at points it really nailed nightmare logic I think and the blending together of dreams and reality. Especially the bit at Skinners (ow my nose) where Mike is being dragged up by the giant marionette strings.
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